Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Cover Letter Hints

Since I’ve been hitting the whole job search thing rather broadly of late, I thought it was about time to add a few specifics.

One area which typically stumps searchers is the dreaded cover letter. I’ve seen everything from two paged tomes to very brief—but dry—form letters.

The best lies somewhere in between…if you drop the dry, that is… in a shorter, one page targeted letter. Easy to read. Interesting enough to hook people into reading your resume, which is the real purpose of the letter in the first place. Think interesting version of a direct mail piece—one which lures you on to the second page.

I have to admit that I do have two favorite books on the topic:— 201 Killer Cover Letters by Podesta and Paxton, a bit shorter version with lots of examples—Cover Letter Magic by Jist Works, great coverage of the topic—very extensive